For those who want something a little lighter and more comedic, Toradora! is probably your best bet. Anime is full of school romantic comedies, but none of them do it quite as well as this show. The setup is standard fare, following the typical motions of “boy and girl don’t seem to get along, but eventually fall for each other.” What makes Toradora! stand out from the rest is how well it executes this story. It’s fully aware that it’s a romantic comedy starring high schoolers, but instead of trying to go beyond the genre, it embraces it. As a result, it focuses on building these characters into relatable and realistic ones that will make you care about them.
Toradora! is not groundbreaking material like other titles on this list, but it ranks as one of our essential animes because of how fun and engaging it is in its execution of a more traditional anime high school romcom. If you’re looking for a story that’ll make you cry, laugh, and fall in love with these whimsical characters, you’ve hit the r

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The world of animation hasn’t been quite the same since we lost Satoshi Kon some years ago. His loss is deeply felt, a gaping hole that’s in every season as we lament that there are some works of his that may never be finished. What we can do, is turn back the time and go back to one of his finest works, Perfect Blue, which inspired great western directors like Christopher Nolan (Inception) and Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan).
Somewhat like Revolutionary Girl Utena, Perfect Blue is surreal and enjoys playing tricks both visually and narratively with the audience, but in a different scope. The film is an exhilarating ride through visions and takes a look at how we construct identity, memory, and our perception of each other relative to society and other factors. Much like the others on this list, it’s also a show one can come back to years later and revisit in a new light, but what makes it an essential anime is how uniquely directed it is. Satoshi Kon loved playing with the idea of time and transitio

“A girl who cannot become a princess is doomed to become a witch.” If you’ve ever seen any of Kunihiko Ikuhara’s works (Sailor Moon, Mawaru Penguindrum, Yurikuma Arashi) then you know what you’re getting yourself into. For those who haven’t, prepare yourself: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ikuhara’s tour de force, is parts surreal, parts postmodern shojo fairy tale, and parts mind boggling social commentary. It’s about a girl navigating adolescence while also escaping the cyclical hell of abuse, sexism, and misconceptions of femininity. It also features sword duels, kangaroos and cows. Ikuhara is known to be the David Lynch of anime, and Revolutionary Girl Utena is a spectrum of that, going to bizarre places and back so fast you’ll often wonder what you just watched.
This can make it infuriatingly incomprehensible at times, but if you stick to the very end, you will be rewarded with perhaps the most powerful series I have ever seen (possibly equal to another one of Ikuhara’s works, Mawaru Penguindrum!).

Cowboy Bebop’s is indisputably one of the greatest anime classics, and a well-deserved one. Whereas most of the series on this list stick to a genre or another, Cowboy Bebop is a strange but balanced mix of comedy, drama, romance, jazz and good old-fashioned western sci-fi. Anime also usually tends to focus on kids struggling with adolescence, but Bebop It’s also one of the rarer shows to feature a main cast of mostly adults, all in a richly invented setting that borrows heavily from our old and yet still relevant social climate. The result? A show that’s enjoyable from beginning to end, and only leaves you wanting for more.
There’s no sweeping or grand thematic finale in Cowboy Bebop, but the series proves that it doesn’t need one. Poignant vignettes exploring the ephemerality of relationships and their impacts on our life, whether they be with comrades, loved ones, or even strangers. The show still holds strong with Shinichiro Watanabe’s eye to detail and fantastic direction, a great dub, beautif

Haunting, heartbreaking, and riveting, Neon Genesis Evangelion is considered to be one of anime’s hallmark classics, though it is highly divisive amongst fans. Some people absolutely love it, and some feel like its goals are too ambitious for its own good, unraveling toward its end and becoming something of a incoherent mess. Regardless of where you land, there is a common ground amongst all these opinions, and that is that Neon Genesis Evangelion is something that simply must be experienced, including its equally divisive movie counterpart, End of Evangelion.
Offering one of the most challenging explorations of mental health and trauma in anime, Neon Genesis Evangelion frames depression, anxiety, guilt, and identity in a brutal but compelling fashion. It’s a post-modern science fiction tale, but without the rose colored perspective that we see so often in these kinds of shows. The series is relentless but deeply insightful - an impact that still rocks the world today as anime (and other mediums) c

A boy who’s lost a leg and arm, and his brother who’s lost his entire body: Fullmetal Alchemist is almost set up to be a tragedy, and in many ways, it is tragic, but it’s also a daring epic that spans a large and diverse cast over generations and continents. Whereas in most stories these kinds of side stories or characters would feel irrelevant, Hiromu Arakawa manages to breathe life and love into every detail, making a story this size feel powerful, encompassing, and engrossing to watch.
While the series is an examination of the tragedies that make us human and the power we have to overcome trials in life, it also doesn’t shy away from more ambitious and darker themes like the consequences of war and to what sacrifices we make for obtaining power. As a result, it offers something emotional for young and older viewers alike. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a grand narrative that any fan of fantasy, science fiction, and cohesive storytelling will enjoy. Due to its large scope, it’s quite long -

Continuing on with some major classics, we hit the iconic Ghost in the Shell - a movie that inspired the Wachowskis's The Matrix franchise and much of science fiction cinema in general. Much like Evangelion, Ghost in the Shell was a rare breed for its time, pushing science fiction into unknown territory while also exploring the politics and implications of technology over our own bodies and identities. However, while Neon Genesis Evangelion is known to be divisive and confusing, Ghost in the Shell is comparatively more straightforward and therefore more accessible.
Ghost in the Shell’s dialogue is all transhumanist, digging deep into the philosophy of what makes us human, and how entering an age where information is being increasingly digitized transforms - and manipulates - that kind of perception. The animation is richly detailed and features some of the best combat scenes for its time. In fact, in spite of its age, Ghost in the Shell is quite ageless - it is so iconic it’s gone on to span sequel

7 Essential Anime Every Fan Should Watch

For those who want something a little lighter and more comedic, Toradora! is probably your best bet. Anime is full of school romantic comedies, but none of them do it quite as well as this show. The setup is standard fare, following the typical motions of “boy and girl don’t seem to get along, but eventually fall for each other.” What makes Toradora! stand out from the rest is how well it executes this story. It’s fully aware that it’s a romantic comedy starring high schoolers, but instead of trying to go beyond the genre, it embraces it. As a result, it focuses on building these characters into relatable and realistic ones that will make you care about them.
Toradora! is not groundbreaking material like other titles on this list, but it ranks as one of our essential animes because of how fun and engaging it is in its execution of a more traditional anime high school romcom. If you’re looking for a story that’ll make you cry, laugh, and fall in love with these whimsical characters, you’ve hit the r